Mercury in Aquarius (January 8 - March 15)
Mercury's journey through Saturn-ruled Aquarius is a dramatic one this year, as the Messenger planet bumps up against the major players in the collective energy. You know those "can and string" toys you can use to send messages? We can think of Mercury as playing that role this month, as it carries messages from each planet it bumps into along the way.
Mercury has a very busy couple of months. Here's an overview of some of the key dates & transits Mercury will make this month:
January 9 - Mercury square Mars in Taurus
January 10 - Mercury conjunct Saturn in Aquarius
January 11 - Mercury conjunct Jupiter in Aquarius
January 12 - Mercury square Uranus in Taurus
Like, yikes!!!! Mercury is interacting with all of the heavy-hitters, giving voice to how some of these energies will manifest this year. Look at the parts of your chart that contain Aquarius and Taurus and see what themes are popping up that relate to those house topics. If you have personal planets or points in the first 10°s of Fixed signs, this energy is going to be extra prominent for you.
Mercury is the planet of communication, expression, data and information. Mercury likes to distill, to analyze, break down, categorize. Mercury loves to soak up discrete pieces of information, to dive into the details, and figure out how each part fits together. Watch out for the role communication and information exchange is playing this week — both in your life, and collectively. This energy is part of the much larger, macrocosmic energy of the first quarter of 2021, so be curious about how it manifests for you.
To make things even more dramatic, Mercury will station retrograde on January 30th at 26° Aquarius. That means Mercury is going to make those same aspects to Mars, Saturn, Jupiter and Uranus TWO MORE TIMES before Mercury leaves Aquarius in March. Whatever Mercury rules in our chart, we will have three opportunities to review, reflect and refresh that part of our lives.
I'm going to do a whoooole post about the Mercury retrograde later in the month. But until then, it's important to remember that Mercury retrogrades are extremely common — it is a natural and normal part of Mercury's relationship with the Sun (the synodic cycle). There are three retrogrades per year, and even though popular internet culture loves to complain about them, they should really be viewed more as opportunities to pause, slow down and take a break, rather than things to whine and moan about. Mercury retrogrades are best used for review and reflection. They are opportunities to slow and prioritize your own internal needs, values and beliefs.
This year, all three Mercury retrogrades happen in Air signs. This brings us into the realm of social interaction, exchange of ideas, dispersing information and movement and change. The parts of our life that are ruled by Air signs (Aquarius, Gemini and Libra) are going to undergo deep review, contemplation and reflection during this year. Sometimes, it's important to slow down and pause, so that we can speed up later. Mercury retrograde this year is going to make us learn that the hard way. And since we can't fight it, we might as well open up to it and try to see what it can teach us.
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